IT Minister Lokesh lays stone for WTC in Vizag

Visakhapatnam: After Google’s recent announcement to set up $15-billion AI Data Center Hub in partnership with Adani Group and AirTel in Visakhapatnam and Meta’s decision to make the city a landing centre for its undersea cable project hit the headlines world-wide, the city has become a cynosure of all eyes due to hosting of the CII Partnership Summit on November 14 and 15.

Google zeroed in on Visakhapatnam for its AI hub and gigawatt-scale data centers spread over three locations with a slew of incentives worth Rs22,000 crore for completing the project during 2026-30 in phases mainly due to international subsea cable landing points in alliance with Sify.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, fondly known as CBN, during CII India Europe Business Partnership Roundtable here on Thursday exuded confidence to achieve the targets set in Swarnandhra Vision-2047 aligned with the Vikasit Bharat Vision to the State No. 1 in all fields.

Nara Lokesh, IT Minister, AP, noted that Andhra Pradesh has already attracted $120 billion in investments over the past 16 months, a performance powered by stability, speed, and the state’s investor‑first approach. Lokesh has said that they will sign 410 MoUs envisaging an investment of nearly Rs9.8 lakh crore.

“These are not symbolic MoUs. They represent real, on-ground projects that are creating employment and transforming regional economies,” Lokesh said.

Santosh Patnaik Visakhapatnam

AndhraPradesh is a gateway for India’s market with abundant investment opportunities in various sectors, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said here on Thursday. Participating as a chief guest at the India Europe Business Partnership Roundtable organized in connection with the CII Partnership Summit, while praising Visakhapatnam as a beautiful green and safest city, he said that the City of Destiny will certainly emerge as a global IT hub.

Inviting global investors to invest in Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday assured them of speedy clearances and all the support from the government.

The CM further said that Andhra Pradesh is a gateway for India’s market with abundant investment opportunities in various sectors. “If any one comes forward for investment, the government will provide an escort officer to follow up their applications for setting up of industries in the state,” he said.

He stated Google is going to set up an AI data centre with an investment of $15 billion and subsea cables will be laid connecting Singapore. Andhra Pradesh has been promoting industries in a big way and as part of it adopted speed of doing business and clearing applications within 45 days.

Citing a recent example, the Chief Minister said Premier Energy got clearances within 45 days with a single phone call. Likewise Reliance is setting up globally second largest brewery with clearances within a month and planning to start production from February. “This is called real speed of business,” he remarked.

Naidu said that the State Government is developing a drone city for both civil applications and defence sector needs. As per the call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote space technology in the private sector, Andhra Pradesh has decided to develop a space city. Andhra Pradesh is strong in the energy sector by producing solar, wind and pumped storage power generation. He said Andhra Pradesh is going to emerge as a green energy hub. While India set a target to produce 500 GW in green energy Andhra Pradesh has decided to produce 160 GW of green energy.

The Chief Minister said Andhra Pradesh is strong in several sectors including AI, data center, space, drones, electronics, aero space, semiconductors.